I was talking to my dad last night about why Fresh Scouts exists, and I told him that it really wasn’t my idea—that Tank and KC were the ones who got the whole thing started. But I shared that even before FS existed, I wanted there to be a website like it, where I could have someone just go ahead and tell me where I could find good, new music without having to comb the internet for it myself.
Now, of course, I’m doing the combing and you’re reaping the fruits of my labor, but I don’t want us to pigeonhole ourselves into just covering rock and hip-hop. I know that most of our readership prefers one or both of those two genres, but there’s good country music out there, too. And no, I’m not talking about the damn Rascal Flatts, who have become this ubiquitous presence at every mall, state fair, and elevator in the country.
I’m talking about David Nail.
Not only does the guy have a badass name (Tangent—How sweet would it be if he had a Brooks & Dunn style duo with some guy named Duke Hammer?), but he’s also a very solid singer and songwriter, too. Look, I know what turns people off to a lot of country music. It’s the whiny twang, the lyrics about double wide trailers and white trash women, the near-tangible scent of cigarette smoke and black leather. It’s too blue collar and/or backwoods for some people. I get that.
But Nail isn’t any of those things. The music features good, old-fashioned guitar, keys, drums, and bass. That’s it. The lyrics are about love and life, and they’ve got creative hooks. The vocals come in hard and poignant, and there’s a richness to Nail’s voice that makes him distinguishable from the voluminous pool of cliché male country singers out there. To put it in just a few words (if it’s not already too late for that), the songs are just good. No simpler way to put it. They’re good.
“Red Light,” for example, was a huge country hit last year, which I suppose makes him ineligible as a new artist in the eyes of country fans. But for you other folks looking to branch out to new genres, David Nail is a great place to start. His ballad, “Turning Home,” plays a really nice rhythm on the piano and has an extremely memorable chorus. “Mississippi” is soulful, “Summer Job Days” is catchy, and “Clouds” is creatively melodic. In fact, Nail’s entire 2008 album, “I’m About to Come Alive,” provides limitless enjoyment. I even talked my pops into giving it a shot.
“Hey,” I said, “What is Fresh Scouts for if not great musical suggestions?” He just shrugged and sardonically told me stop pretending like FS was my idea.
My dad’s a funny guy sometimes. Funny, funny guy.
Check out “Turning Home” here:
And here’s “Red Light”:
Civil Twilight – “Letters From the Sky”
Just having the word “Twilight” in its title, this song probably upped it’s Google hits by 10,000% in the 12-17 year-old female demographic, but you don’t have to love Edward Cullen to love this song. Trust us, this has nothing to do with Stephanie Meyer. Instead, we get a haunting piano piece with a smooth, driving drumbeat and emotional vocals typical of something you’d hear out of Coldplay. Except it’s not Coldplay, so it has that going for it.
Mojo Morgan – “Million $ Check”
If you took the sound of somebody breaking wind and ran in through a synthesizer, you’d have the surprisingly catchy bass line of this new cut from Mojo Morgan. Clean guitars supplement that musical elephant stomp for an R&B track that can’t do anything other than make you smile and tap the hell out of your toes.
David Nail – “Turning Home”
We don’t like our country music to lean too heavily towards pop music, but we also don’t like it to sound like someone named Billy Bob Joe Robbie is singing lead. Somewhere in the middle is ideal, and David Nail, whose “Red Light” is up for a CMA,” absolutely “nails” that happy medium (get it?). “Turning Home” is a nice relaxing country ballad with just enough rhythm to make you hit the steering wheel with the butt of your palm when the chorus kicks in.
